Sweet
Cravings (August, 2014
55,000
words, M/F, Sweet Romance
Serena Burton is a shy and disillusioned young English
woman holidaying on the Mediterranean island of Malta finds romance with the
hotel manager, Luigi Coletti. She also finds herself deeply involved in the
life of an elderly writer, Louisa Weston.
Excerpt (PG): Calypso Cave
The coastal road leading to the
coves of Wied-iz-Zurrieq, a small fishing village on the western
side of the island, was very steep and narrow but the view from up there was
magnificent. At one point he stopped the car so that Serena could admire at
leisure the rugged landscape unfolding down below. She gasped with unexpected
pleasure at the breathtaking scenery. Her cheeks were all pink from the
freshening breeze and she looked absolutely ravishing. Luigi almost gave in to
the temptation of proposing to her then and there. However, as he thought of
his carefully detailed event to come he resisted and cautiously walked toward
the bay.
“Bonjù” the old
fisherman from whom he had pre-rented the boat, greeted them with a toothless
smile.
“Good morning Salvino, are we ready?”
“Ready when you are sir.”
Luigi helped Serena into the
boat and took hold of the oars. “We shall be about an hour,” he said to the old
man as he started to row energetically in order to get away from the scorching midday
sun.
As soon as they entered the
cavern, the coolness of the rock walls made them feel more relaxed. The water
appeared as smooth as glass and reflected like a mirror the brilliant
phosphorescent colors
of underwater flora. Luigi sat back unmoving and let the craft drift smoothly
along.
“What do you think?” he asked
with a smug gesture of grandeur as if he owned the place.
Serena bent over to cup in her
hands the pure crystalline water and sighed on seeing how the water gave the
appearance of being a pale blue hue rather than transparent. “You are right, it
is quite spectacular.”
Luigi was fighting his anxiety
and waited for the right moment to speak. He had purposely chosen a mid-week
day to avoid the tourist crowd, but there were still too many boats around. He
feared his romantic proposal would not work the way he had planned it.
Spotting a smaller, deserted
cave, he casually rowed into it. A faint ray of sunlight coming
through the arched opening revealed a multitude of tiny multi-colored crystals
shining brilliantly on the wet walls. They
seemed to mirror the diamond ring he had chosen at his father’s jewelry shop in
Valetta several weeks earlier was burning a hole in Luigi’s pocket.
“It’s very beautiful indeed
although strangely kind of spooky as well,” said Serena shivering slightly at
the thought and experiencing a niggling tingle at the back of her neck. Luigi’s
deep blue eyes seemed to grow darker and darker like a whirlpool in which she
was drowning, and for a split second his face seemed to disappear and a gray
shadow jumped out of the boat… With a frightening yelp Serena recoiled in
horror and looked around as if searching for something in the water. She was
shaking quite noticeably and vaguely aware Luigi was speaking to her as he
moved position to sit next to her making the boat rock a bit.
“Serena! Serena! What is it?
Have I offended you in any way?”
“No, no, I’m alright.” she
whispered still in a daze.
He lightly touched her chin to
turn her face towards him. “How do you really feel about me, Serena? You must
know I’m in love with you. I thought you felt the same?”
“I don’t really know how I feel
or where I stand right now, Luigi,” she mumbled still shaken by her eerie vision.
“Things at the villa are not working out the way I expected, and I might very
well decide to go back home after all.” She was stalling and she knew it, still
determined not to make any commitments she might regret.
“We better go back,” he said
reluctantly.
The journey to the villa was
excruciatingly silent and unbearable. As they reached the gates of her new home
Luigi leaned across to open the door rather than getting out and opening it for
Serena.
“I’ll call you,” he said, then
as soon as she had stepped out of the car drove off at high speed.
Serena stood on the pavement
with a knot in her stomach. Why did she behave so stupidly when in reality she
liked him so much? Would she ever see Luigi again or, had she lost the only
true friend she had? She went inside with a heavy sense of foreboding. She
didn’t understand why since arriving on the island she was beginning to
experience such strange hallucinations from alleged apparitions at the rocks in
Sliema to the ghostly image which had materialized out of Luigi’s eyes just an
hour or so earlier. Should she perhaps see a doctor about it?
From the day she arrived on the
island, her life seemed to have been taken over by a power beyond her control
and she felt trapped within her own Calypso
Cave. What was the meaning of all this? If by some inexplicable reason her
destiny was to be linked to this tiny foreign land, was not Luigi meant to be
part of it?
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About the Author:
Viviane Elisabeth Borg (née Fleri) was born in Alexandria, Egypt on 15th
January 1925 at a time when the Country was under a ruling monarchy which
permitted a predominant European influence to flourish. This gave Egypt and
Alexandria in particular a distinctive cosmopolitan and flamboyant lifestyle.
Despite being born British of Maltese descent she had a totally Italian
upbringing and received an extensive French education at the French Lycée. Being a great lover of poetry and literature
she aspired at becoming a writer but her studies were cut short as World War II
erupted over Europe. She married on 26th October 1946 and gave birth
to three children. In 1952 her husband, Hubert, obtained a managerial position
at a shipping agency at the small town of Port Said. They lived there happily
until political disruptions between the Egyptian government and Anglo-French
interests in the Suez Canal Zone resulted in military intervention. The result
of the week-long conflict in 1956, which became known in history as the Suez
Crisis, forced the evacuation of all European nationals out of Egypt. Viviane
and her family were compelled to abandon their home and all assets and leave
their country as political refugees. They set up a new home in London
where they became a magnet for the rest of their family.
In 1997 she wrote and self-published a memoir
entitled When the Wind Blows.
Proceeds from the sale of the book were donated to cancer research in memory of
Hubert who died of bowel cancer in 1989. Poetic Whispers a poetry
anthology was published on Smashwords in 2013. A Tangled Web is her second book. Viviane now resides in the south of France near Cannes.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vivianeeborg25.author
Twitter: www.twitter.com/VivianeEBorg1
Blog: http://vivianeeborg25.wordpress.com/
